The Search for a Home
The residents of Brewster Place are constantly searching for a home,
both as a literal place to live and as a metaphorical state of mind. For
Mattie, her search for a home other than the one in which she was raised
takes her from a rundown apartment in the city to a wonderful home in which
she raises her child, and finally, to Brewster Place. The journey from one
home to another is repeated with every character in the novel. Just as
important as any physical location is the security and comfort attached to
the idea of home. Brewster Place, though it’s falling apart, offers Etta a
form of security and comfort she has long lived without. It offers Kiswana
the opportunity to live out her ideals, and it offers Mattie the opportunity
to become a surrogate mother to a host of women. In every search for a home,
what ultimately defines the idea of “home” isn’t the condition of the walls
but the strength of the relationships within those walls.
The Hopefulness of Migration
The residents of Brewster Place have migrated to Brewster Place from
their parents’ home in the South, from the Mediterranean, from the
middle-class suburbs ringing the city, or from more secure lives and homes.
Regardless of where they come from, they have ended up here, and they have
chosen, or been forced, to call it home. Migration, in addition to being a
central theme of the novel, is also a central theme in African-American
history. From the slave migration to the North prior to the Civil War, to
the Great Migration of millions of African-Americans following the
post-World War II industrial boom, the idea of escaping to the North has
always held hope and promise of a better future.
For most of the residents of Brewster Place, however, migration isn’t
the fulfillment of a dream but the culmination of a long, frustrating life.
Mattie loses her home and ends up in Brewster Place, while Etta arrives
after a series of failed relationships. Ben comes to Brewster Place after
being abandoned by his wife and daughter, while Lorraine and Theresa are
forced out of their more comfortable middle-class existence because of their
sexuality. Despite the frustrations and difficulties of life in Brewster
Place, it brings all of its residents hope: a light is left on all night; a
late-night conversation brings comfort; and many of those searching for
meaning find some version of it here.
The Power of Personal Connections
Throughout the novel, characters reach out to one another across
generational, cultural, and gender lines. They reach out to one another and,
in doing so, are able to ease the loneliness and hardship that surround
their lives. One example of a powerful personal connection is Mattie’s
relationship with Eva. The women are separated by class, skin tone, and age,
yet they find each other and make each other’s lives more bearable. Similar
benefits arise from other connections, including Mattie’s relationship with
Etta, Mattie’s relationship with Lucielia, Kiswana’s relationship with Cora,
and Ben’s relationship with Lorraine. Each relationship shows how personal
connections can sustain and offer hope in even the direst circumstances. The
relationships show individuals at their best, and they serve as a necessary
counterweight to the abandonment, prejudice, and brutality that comprise
much of the novel.
